Electromagnetic Structure of the Neutron

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9722533MadeyThe neutron and the proton are the two basic building blocks of matter.Knowledge of the charge structure of the neutron is essential to understanding the structure of matter. This knowledge is needed for detailed microscopic calculations of electromagnetic nuclear structure, for testing evolving constituent quark models of particle structure, and for extraction of the strange quark content of the proton from parity-violating electron scattering experiments. Current knowledge of the neutron charge structure is insufficient to meet these needs. Jefferson Laboratory (JLab) Experiment 93-038 addresses this fundamental question regarding the nature of the charge structure of the neutron: What is the spatial distribution of the constituent quarks within the neutron? In this experiment, longitudinally polarized electrons scatter quasielastically from a neutron in deuterium. JLab E93-038 will utilize a neutron polarimeter detector designed specifically for the measurement of the scattering asymmetry from the sideways polarization component of the neutron. Another advantage of quasielastic scattering from deuterium is that the interpretation of the results is insensitive to theoretical models involving the structure of the deuteron. JLab E93-038 has the scientific potential for achieving smaller statistical and systematic uncertainties than other techniques at this time.